turned to England as acting Master of the same sloop early in the ensuing year; and to his great mortification found himself obliged to remain in that situation, notwithstanding the assurance he had received from the senior officer at Quebec, that he would be superseded immediately on his arrival[1].
Steadily refusing to accept a Navy Board warrant, Mr. Rathborne continued in the Hunter as acting Master for nearly four years, during which she was almost constantly employed on the American coast, and formed part of several expeditions against the enemy in the Jerseys. At length, through the kind interference of Captain Alexander Hood, nephew of the officer with whom he had served in the Romney and Royal William, he was once more restored to the line of promotion, and allowed to take a passage home in a merchant vessel, at the commencement of 1780.
On his arrival in London he was introduced by his former commander, Captain Mackenzie, to Earl Sandwich, then first Lord of the Admiralty; who the very next day, Mar. 18, 1780, presented him with a Lieutenant’s commission for the Bedford, of 74 guns, commanded by the late Sir Edmund Affleck, to whom he had previously been recommended by the above officer.
The Bedford formed part of the squadron under Vice-Admiral Arbuthnot, in the action with M. Ternay, Mar. 16, 1781; and bore a share in the engagement between Rear-Admiral Graves and the Count de Grasse, on the 5th Sept. in the same year[2]. Subsequent to the latter event, Captain Affleck hoisted a broad pendant on board her, and proceeded to the West Indies, where he highly distinguished himself in
- ↑ Sir Charles Douglas arrived at Quebec with a reinforcement on the day of the Americans’ defeat; and having occasion to send the Hunter home with despatches, insisted upon Mr. Rathborne taking charge of her as Master, there being no other person in the squadron sufficiently qualified to do so.
- ↑ See Vol. I, p. 40, and note at p. 133.
by escalade, early in the morning of Dec. 31, 1775, on which occasion Mr. Rathborne, then on duty with the picquet guard, personally assisted in cutting off the retreat of the storming party, every one of whom was either killed or taken prisoner.
